Why safety belts
Why safety beltsWhy Safety Belts?
Experts say Princess Diana would have lived had she been wearing a seat belt. The same holds true for countless others who die needlessly in car accidents every day. In the Highway Patrol findings, motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for every age from 5-32. In 1997, 70,676 people were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes and approximately 5 million were injured. To understand the value of a safety belt, it is important to understand some of the dynamics of a crash. Every motor vehicle crash is comprised of three collisions, and also many outside forces can contribute to car accidents.
The Car's Collision
The first part is known as the car's collision, which causes the car to buckle and bend as it hits an object and comes to a stop. This takes approximately one-tenth of a second. The crushing at the front end of the car absorbs some of the force of the crash and cushions the rest of it. As a result, the passenger compartment comes to a more gradual stop than the front of the car does.
The Human Collision
The second one occurs as the vehicle's occupants hit some part of the vehicle. At impact, the unbelted occupants are still travelling at the vehicle's original speed. Just after the vehicle comes to a complete stop, these unbelted occupants will slam into the steering wheel, the windshield, or some other part inside the vehicle. This is a human collision. Another form of human collision is person-to-person impact. Unbelted occupants colliding into each other are the cause of many serious injuries. In a crash, occupants tend to move toward the point of impact and not away from it. People in the front seat are often struck by unbelted passengers who become high-speed projectiles.
The Internal Collision
The internal collision often causes fatal injuries. Even after the occupant's body comes to a complete stop, the internal organs are still moving forward. Suddenly, these organs hit other organs or the skeletal system and could cause significant injuries.
So, Why Safety Belts?
During a crash, properly fastened safety belts distribute the forces of rapid deceleration over larger and stronger parts of the person's body such as the chest, hips and shoulders. The safety belt stretches slightly to slow down your body and increase its stopping distance. The difference between the belted person's stopping distance and the unbelted person's stopping distance is very significant. It is often the difference between life and death.
Excerpts from "Sudden Impact," NHTSA, 1997
Some Facts and Figures
Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death of children over the age of four. Motor vehicle crashes kill more children in the 1-4 age group than any disease. More than 2,000 infants in the US are put in serious risk of injury or death each year by riding on adults' laps.
Lifetime odds are 1-in-3 that you will be seriously injured in a...
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